whither

whither¹ to what place

Etymology

The word for "to what place" is inherited from Middle English whider,^[4][5][2][6] inherited from Old English hwider,^[1][4][7][8] earlier Northumbrian huidir and later hwyder.^[1] It is built on the Germanic base Proto-Germanic *hwi-, the source of who and which,^[9][4][8] with the ending of hither and thither.^{[9][4][8][10]} Klein calls that ending a comparative suffix,^[5] and Etymonline reconstructs *hwithre-,^[4] while Wiktionary gives *hwadrê.^[3] The base goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷo-, the stem of relative and interrogative pronouns.^[4][7] The OED separates Gothic 𐍈𐌰𐌳𐍂𐌴 (hwadrē), which has the same meaning, as coming from a different Germanic base, *hwa-.^[1] The sources differ on Old English hwæder: Dictionary.com takes it as the original form, altered on the model of hider,^[11] and Holthausen too sees that influence,^[12] but the OED takes it as a late and occasional spelling, probably after þæder.^[1] The spelling change from d to th is the one seen in father.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To what place: Old English hwider is dated before 830 by Barnhart,^[9] before 900 by Dictionary.com^[11] and before the 12th century by Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[2] Old English Bible texts render Latin quo vadis? as hwider wylt ðú and hwyder gǽst ðú.^[13] The Middle English spelling wider appears probably before 1200, in the Trinity Homilies.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Old English already used the word in direct and indirect questions, in a figurative sense, to what result or condition, and as a relative, to the place to which.^[1][13] Bosworth-Toller's supplement also records "to what state" and the combination with swā, whithersoever.^[13] A wider sense, to whatever place, appears about 1275 in Laȝamon's Brut, and the plain relative, to which place, before 1400 in the Morte Arthure.^[1] Chaucer has whider 16 times.^[14] Johnson (1755) gave the place senses, interrogative and relative, and a sense "to what degree", which he marked as obsolete and perhaps never in use.^[15] Now the word is labelled archaic or poetic,^[16][17] though a newer pattern puts it before a single word or short phrase, recorded from 1982.^[1] As a noun, the place or state towards which something moves, it is rare, and is dated to 1875 by the OED and to the early 19th century by the Shorter Oxford.^[1][17] In Cumberland whither away? asked where someone was going, and a Fife poem of 1827 has any whither, in any direction.^[18]

Timeline

• before 830 – Old English hwider, to what place.^[9]
• c. 1275 – to whatever place.^[1]
• before 1400 – relative, to which place.^[1]
• 1678 – a humorous phrase using it as a noun (obsolete by 1725).^[1]
• 1875 – noun, the place or state to which something tends.^[1]
• 1982 – followed by a single word or short phrase.^[1]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (archaic or poetic) To what place?: Whither are the riders bound?^[16][2][17]
2. (archaic or poetic) To what end, result or condition: Whither will this policy lead?^[16][2][1]
3. (archaic) To which place: the town whither they had sent the children.^[2][17]

Conjunction

1. (archaic or poetic) To the place or to whatever place: They may travel whither they choose.^[16][2][17]

Noun

1. (rare) The place or state towards which someone or something moves.^[1][17]

Word family

• whithersoever
• whitherward
• anywhither
• everywhither
• nowhither
• somewhither
• elsewhither

whither² to rush, tremble

Etymology

The word for rushing and trembling is inherited from Middle English quhidderen, also quhediren and quhethiren, in Scots,^[2] borrowed from Old Norse *hviðra.^[1] Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls it simply of Scandinavian origin.^[2] The OED compares Norwegian kvidra (“to go to and fro with short quick movements”) and relates the verb to Old Norse hviða (“squall of wind”) and Old English hwiþa,^[1][2] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds hwīnan (“to make a whizzing sound”), the source of whine.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To tremble, shake or quiver: about 1450, in the Coventry Mysteries.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The sense of moving with force, rushing or whizzing, and of wind blustering, is recorded in a 1487 manuscript of Barbour's Bruce, a poem dated before 1380.^[1] The noun, a rush, a blow or a gust, formed from the verb, appears probably before 1505 in Henryson.^[1] A transitive use, to strike or throw violently, is recorded from 1825, in Jamieson's Scottish dictionary.^[1][2] In the 19th century the word was still in use in Scotland and northern England, with some records in the Midlands and Devon: there people shivered and things fluttered, winds blustered and bullets whizzed with this verb.^[18] It took many spellings, among them whidder in Scotland and the Lake District and wuther in Northumberland, Yorkshire and Lancashire.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – to tremble, shake, quiver.^[1]
• 1487 – to rush, to whizz; of wind, to bluster.^[1]
• before 1505 – noun, a rush, a blow, a gust.^[1]
• 1825 – transitive, to strike, to throw violently.^[1]

Meanings

Verb

1. (chiefly Scottish) To rush or whiz; of the wind, to bluster.^[2][1][18]
2. (chiefly Scottish and northern English) To tremble or shake.^[1][18]
3. (chiefly Scottish) To throw violently or strike hard.^[2][1]

Noun

1. (chiefly Scottish) A rush, a sudden blow or a blast of wind.^[2][1]